The developers want your ideas! We've received a lot of feedback from you - our Kickstarter backers and others who have pre-ordered the game - about features you hope to exist in the final version of CodeSpells. This is a place to suggest & discuss new features for the game.

lindseyhandley
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2014-12-29T19:13:23Z —
#2

This topic is now pinned. It will appear at the top of its category until it is unpinned by staff for everyone, or by individual users for themselves.

AureEntuluva
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2014-12-30T00:26:01Z —
#3

Hello!

In playing Codespells, I have noticed a few things which would be extremely handy features.1) There needs to be an "Advanced Mode" or some sort of thing, where the player could actually type using JavaScript. Their code would compile, and execute, and if it contained no errors, it would run. I can see this as more of a late-development aspect, but it should definitely be high up on a list somewhere.2) Further functions to affect the orbs. Controlling speed by decimal values, rather than "fast" and "slow". A key thing is to setup the actual movement of the orb in 3D space, independent of any sort of mouse movement from the player.3) Similar to #2 above, the player should be able to create construct-type golems. Using floating crystals or clumps of earth, the player could attach them together with elastic bonds, and then have a humanoid shape that they'd coded follow them for a short while, Their code allows the "arm rocks" to swing quickly, potentially damaging creatures.

bimmer28
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2014-12-30T00:44:08Z —
#4

-Stop All feature to stop a runaway spell. There have been times where ive made a spell that wouldnt end and had to exit world.

-import spells from other users

-hotkeys for spells

-way to see if there is a code fragment somewhere hidden. sometimes my son will drag and drop and not realize he has an incomplete function hidden or a zoom out feature for the area you write the spell

CDubs
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2014-12-30T02:07:01Z —
#5

bimmer28:

-hotkeys for spells

My idea ties into this. I'm sure it's something you guys are working on already, but being able to assign spells to slots on the spell wheel would be much more convenient than digging through the long list of spells I've racked up.

Also, consider a better organization of spells in the list, such as categories or folders to drag and drop similarly structured spells into.

AureEntuluva
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2014-12-30T02:08:01Z —
#6

Maybe even assigning to numbers on the keyboard?

MrPoundsign
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2014-12-30T02:21:16Z —
#7

CDubs:

Also, consider a better organization of spells in the list, such as categories or folders to drag and drop similarly structured spells into.

Can't play it yet but just a random idea. What about auto-tagging spells based upon attributes sued in the code editor? Like seeing all your spells that use push or pull or whatever, and being able to select multiple (push and earth, etc)

bimmer28
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2014-12-30T03:57:03Z —
#8

to me that seems like a lot to add but maybe something would eb allowing the user to assign a group to the spell? so he can auto select an entire group at once. seems easier to do

cpopell
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2014-12-30T04:25:04Z —
#9

Oh man, this is potentially going to be a long post. A lot of these thoughts are going to go onto my site at http://codespellcodex.com (okay, I gotta be allowed to shill at least once), but here we go:

I either need to be able to remap, or it need to be more clear how to remap the wheel bar.

I need to be able to name orbs and refer to them by object name.

Spells should be aware of how much mana they consume, so I can set mathematical equations based on that mana. In other words, if I have 20 mana, I should be allowed to say M/5 instead of manually specifying 4 mana.

Spells need to be able to have their speed dynamically adjusted. This is a bit longer of a thought, but it was part of spell design that stymied me.

I was looking at making what was, essentially, a clock. This more or less requires creating a line of orbs that cycle around at a regular speed--possibly 6 seconds, whatever. Now, if you want to be able to look at it instead of having it orbit around you, you need to be able to launch them into formation. This is an issue--

You aren't able to dynamically set the speed of the orb after it's been launched. In other words, if I start the orb at fast, wait for a function, call the function, then set the orb to stopped (which was essentially what I was trying to do), it will instantaneously stop because it collapses all those speed variables. This massively limits the ability to create dynamic and static structures that aren't constantly moving.

On top of this, there's an issue with waiting. As far as I can tell, currently wait values are based off time since initiation, not time since prior wait period end. This isn't necessarily a bad thing--I was assuming it was like Python's sleep function--but it wasn't clear at all, either.

There needs to be a variety of other shapes. Either orbs need to be able to create a line of dragged light/magic that can then be moved, or you need to be able to create bars. As it stands we're currently massively limited in the geometry available.

That's all for now!

Yagrim
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2014-12-30T09:13:15Z —
#10

Mainly,being able to directly edit JavaScript would be nice. Right now there are lots of things I see possible through JS but not possible with the graphic interface. I played with the files and found that custom spells as store in some serialized C# object which contains the JavaScript in plain text. However, editing the file manually breaks it.If only they were stored in a plain text and there was a button to refresh the engine, you could edit in any IDE or text editor outside the game This would make it easier to share and publish spells and giving more power to spell crafter, would mean better testing.

Another request is in the line of sharing spells, adding a button to take a screenshot of the spell o create an image file with it in some folder. This will be specially usefull when dealing with spells that require scrolling.

marcolof
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2014-12-30T11:15:50Z —
#11

New feature requests:

Make it (easily) possible to aim a spell at your feet.

Hotkey to edit the current spell

This would be particularly useful with spells like dig and raise (especially raise).

marcolof
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2014-12-30T11:59:58Z —
#12

@Yagrim: while I agree that being able to directly edit JavaScript would be awesome, that ability would add a pretty big security hole in the game. Filtering user-written JavaScript to eliminate malicious code is a really hard problem, afaik.

Yagrim
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2014-12-30T13:39:57Z —
#13

The security issue for me is not that harmfull and is just a matter of detecting the holes and fixing them.It's a sandbox game after all, and the code is executed against a provided API. It's not like you're going to write a keylogger or invoke a remote server from the game. For instance, I imagine that if I try an HTTP request from inside the game it will just fail because the api does not contain such methods, unless they expose it of course, in which case is a matter of just fixing it with a patch.Limiting an API is not that hard really, think of the games that provide modding, they also include scripting languages with caped APIs to ensure nothing dangerouse is done. And even if some holes do exist, spells' code is open, so people can report them.Finally, in the kickstarter is it stated that the graphical interface is a learning tool for beginners but the final aim is being able to code in JS.

marcolof
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2014-12-30T14:22:37Z —
#14

Oh! Cool, Thanks, Yagrim. I hadn't seen that JS would be available later.

Couldn't you just rotate the orb down 90 degrees onCreate? I haven't tried this, but it seems like that'd do the trick.

DJ_Hunt
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2014-12-30T15:34:19Z —
#16

Keyboard Functions seem allocated for a left handed person. How about the ability for the User to define/set their own keyboard shortcuts.

In that same vain, I noticed some mentioned the ability to assign Hot Keys for Spells, and that fits right in with my suggestion.

DJ Hunt

cpopell
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2014-12-30T15:47:15Z —
#17

Here's another one--be able to send spells to specific positions in coordinate space based on a looked at target (item, creator, etc.). Also be able to orient yourself looking along a flat plane, or fire a spell along a flat plane of a given unit vector.

CDubs
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2014-12-30T16:19:25Z —
#18

While that could definitely work for a lot of situations, depending on what you're trying to do, it would just be better to be able to look straight up and down.

For example, if I want to lock an orb to player rotation and cast a Raise Earth spell and use the earth as an elevator, it would be cool to just be able to maneuver the direction that the earth is coming up from under me. Although I suppose you could just set the distance the orb is locked to something ridiculously small so the orb is essentially "on top" of the player and get the same effect.

Now I must test this as I was actually trying to do what I just described, earlier lol.

Keter
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2014-12-30T19:06:33Z —
#19

I'm not sure if the game currently has this or not, so I'll put it here anyway and hopefully someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

As the game is now, it seems that we have no way to directly tell how the amount of mana put into a spell affects the spell itself. As far as I see, it only affects the spell duration in some way currently unknown to me. As such, I've been seeing people suggest amounts of mana to use with their spells (40 mana works best, 20 mana works best, etc), without much justification and I assume it's all just guesswork.

I think a way to see how the mana directly affects the spell would be nice to work with.

BlackSabin
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2014-12-30T19:09:38Z —
#20

The ability to look up and down.

Availability for the disabled; i.e., colorblind mode, left handed, etc.

Keybinds for spells, whether player-made or defaulted to certain hotkeys.

The ability to select spells with other spells; combos, and spell combos possibly having more effects.

Orbs can be set to coordinates.

Something more than just orbs to manipulate the environment. (Beams of energy, auras, etc)

As much as this game is based on magic, some variety of melee combat, with a potential to enchant your melee combat. In a wizards face, why not whack their staff out of their hands?

Mind control. Force all the animals to attack your opponent.

Use your own "life" to construct other life. For example, spell -20 health constructs a bunny familiar.

Golem constructs available. Not something hard-coded into the game, but the potential for such things to be more easily created.

In reference to #10, a way to track other objects in the area, and/or a way to tag objects ingame. A spell that adds a certain variable tag to a certain object, maybe.

In reference to #9, Necromancy?

Some way to target yourself with spells. Seriously, I want to rubberband my way around the world. Spiderman.

Some way to use multiple spells at once. Not a spell that casts 2 spells at once, no no no, I mean select 2 spells and cast them separately at once. Maybe RMB and LMB use different spells.

Illusion magic. Some way of disguising yourself or something else into a different shape/material to fool others.

In reference to #15, a way to ragdoll yourself without actually dying.

In reference to #6, a way to buff yourself and/or tradeoffs. Weakened fire, but stronger water attributes. Stronger jumping, but weaker running. Etc.

Separate, I've been interested in 3d modeling for quite some time. For those of you that know what it is, Garry's Mod had a mod for it called Wiremod. This added the ability to freely program and interact with the world, and also added holograms so you can display and render 3d objects that had no physical presence. I'd like to see an api for adding 3d objects to the game for players' use in their spells. Example, an earth spell that creates a giant sword above someone's head and come crashing down. There are no sword models in CodeSpells currently, and as such the most you could do is use a large rock. Kinda bland.

Note to the developers: Don't be afraid to steal some ideas from other games. Tons of games have magic systems and they have all had special different traits or attributes. Skyrim for example, it had a magic system, but by itself it wasn't the greatest thing. Modders came in, though, and totally redid it, and now its a more fun and interesting way to play. Magicka was a game with a really good idea, but OP spells were available from the start, and so getting to the end wasn't too difficult. Just cast these 3 spells and GG. But, they came out with their MMO Magicka Wizard Wars. Totally patched all the OP spells, and all of the elements and combos are equalized in some fashion. Steal ideas. The best of programming comes out when people take other's ideas and put them together. Sporks.